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First Lowlands War
The First Lowlands War was a widespread conflict which occured primarily in the Lowlands, as a result of attempts by the Wasp Empire to annex them through conquest. Open hostilities began with the Siege of Tark, though an intense period of espionage and counter-espionage preceded this including several assassination attempts and skirmishes. The war ended with the assassination of Emperor Alvdan II and a simultaneous revolt by several cities against the Empire's rule which, combined with a key victory by the Lowlander coalition at Malkan's Folly, forced the Wasps to abandon their invasion and consolidate behind a new Empress. Ultimately this was only a deferral of hostilities, and conflict was later resumed in the Second Lowlands War. Prelude Seventeen years before the beginning of the war, a handful of students from Collegium travelled east to investigate rumours of the newfound Wasp Empire's expansion. Witness to the Siege of Myna, artificer Stenwold Maker dedicated himself to raising awareness of the threat the Wasps posed to the Lowlands. Ignored by the Collegiate Assembly, he set up a spy network to keep an eye on Wasp activity in the Lowlands. When the Empire concluded its Twelve-Year War against the Commonweal and turned its attentions to the Lowlands, agents of the Rekef Outlander fought a war of espionage against Stenwold's network, concluding with a skirmish in the Helleron rail-yard which saw the Wasps' plans for a suprise invasion of Collegium foiled. Their covert options exhausted, the Wasps launched an invasion. The Siege of Tark Open hostilities began when the Wasp Empire's Imperial Fourth Army laid siege to the Ant-kinden city-state of Tark in the east of the Lowlands. The Empire attempted to justify this by claiming that Tark was not part of the Lowlands by definition and thus was exempt from the non-aggression pact they had signed, the Treaty of Gold. Regardless, none of the other Lowlands cities were willing or able to come to the Ant city-state's defence, many of them believing that the Wasps would stop after Tark, a view encouraged by secretly pro-Imperial agents seeded throughout the Lowlands. The battle began with assaults on the walls by the Wasp Light Airborne divisions, utilizing the savage northern Wasps or "Hornet-kinden" as shock troops. This was followed by a concerted aerial assault designed to eliminate Tark's aerial strength, pitting the Fourth Army's aircraft and giant flying wasps against the aircraft and giant flying ants of the Tark. This attack succeeded in removing Tark's aerial capability, allowing multiple airships to fly high over the city and drop incendiary bombs unopposed. The bombardment wreaked terrible damage on the city whilst the Tarkesh were unable to retaliate, a plan masterminded by the Imperial "Colonel-Auxilian" and master engineer Dariandrephos. In addition, automotives on the ground sprayed Tark's walls with a time-delay acid, at first having apparently no effect but later dissolving them to clear the way for the Wasp's ground assault. Faced with the Wasps' aerial superiority, the defenders of Tark devised a plan to utilize secret tunnels to approach the Fourth Army's airfield and destroy their airships with explosives whilst they were grounded. A small team including two agents of Stenwold Maker's, Salme Dien and Totho, attempted to carry out this plan but were foiled by extra guards Dariandrephos had placed at the airfield. Their failure signified the death of Tark's last hope, and with the city now overrun by Wasp infantry the Tarkesh King sent a final order to his last surviving military commander, Parops, to gather as many forces as he could and abandon the city. With this achieved, the King and his advisors committed suicide rather than be captured by the Wasps. Outcome: Total victory for the Wasp Empire's Fourth Army The Vekken Siege Even while the Wasps laid siege to Tark, they recognised Collegium as the chief cultural and political power in the Lowlands and thus their main target. As yet unable to attack the city directly, the Empire turned to the Rekef to incite the Ant-kinden of Vek to attack Collegium, effectively doing their job for them. The Vekken held a long-standing enmity with Collegium, for nine years earlier they had besieged it only to be defeated when Collegium's allies, the Ant-kinden of Sarn, came to their aid and attacked the Vekken from behind. The Wasp Empire was able to manipulate this emnity to make the Vekken attack Collegium once more. The longest battle of the First Lowlands War, the Vekken Siege wrought much damage to Collegium. The cosmopolitan defenders of the city included its own civilians, some hastily assembled into paramilitary Merchant Companies; the engineers of the Great College, who utilized their own creations to fight the Vekken; and the surviving Ant-kinden from Tark led by Parops. The Sarnesh were unable to send aid this time, due to the threat posed to their own city by the Imperial Seventh Army. Led by newly titled "War Master" Stenwold Maker and other impromptu leaders from among the civilians, such as the leaders of the Merchant Companies and Sarnesh former mercenary Balkus, Collegium's rag-tag defenders were able to fight back and hold the city much longer than the Vekken had anticipated. The Vekken's initial bombardment with siege engines met absolutely no response, confusing their commanders, but that night Collegium's siege engine crews used precise calculations they had obtained during the day to fire back, destroying most of the Vekken siege engines in a single stroke under cover of darkness. Robbed of their ability to attack the walls from a distance the Vekken were forced to attack the city gates with infantry, exposing them to the defenders' fire. Prototype and experimental weapons developed by the masters of the Great College were deployed to varying effectiveness, some jamming or misfiring, while the sandbow proved so horrifyingly deadly that its creator took his own life out of guilt. Midway through the siege minimal assistance was sent by the Sarnesh in the form of squads carried into the Vekken lines in automotives. Though it caused some damage this tactic was ultimately suicidal and led to the death of Scuto. In the end the siege was only lifted when unexpected assistance arrived in the form of a fleet from the Spiderlands led by Teornis of the Aldanrael family. The fleet's mercenary and satrapy soldiers flanked the city and hit the Vekken from both sides, defeating them and sending them fleeing back to Vek. Afterwards, Teornis was hailed as a hero alongside Balkus and Stenwold by the people of the city. Outcome: Costly victory for the defenders of Collegium and Spiderlands allies. The Destruction of the Fourth Army After destroying Tark, the Imperial Fourth Army was deliberately delayed with diplomatic meetings by Teornis of the Aldanrael before he moved on to relieve Collegium. When the Fourth Army was finally able to move on westwards it was ambushed at night by the Mantis-kinden of the Felyal forest. The Felyal mantids, encouraged by Stenwold Maker's friend and ally Tisamon, issued from their forest launch a surprise attack on the Fourth Army camp. Though the mantids took losses to the better armed and armoured Wasps, the swiftness and ferocity of their attack enabled them to eliminate all the Fourth Army's leaders and send the survivors routing back towards the Empire. Outcome: Total victory for the Felyal mantids and destruction of the Imperial Fourth Army. The Battle of the Rails While other battles were being fought in the south, the Imperial Seventh Army under the young and aggressive General Malkan had marched westwards from the Empire and closed on Helleron. The greedy magnates who ruled the city had long profitted from trade with the Wasps and so surrendered without a fight. Criminal gangs in the city's slums put up some resistance, but they were disorganised and poorly armed compared to the Wasps and were eliminated one by one. With Helleron flying the Empire's flag the Seventh Army continued westwards towards Sarn, preventing the Sarnesh from sending aid to Collegium. The route of the Seventh Army followed the newly built rail-line from Sarn to Helleron and continuous sapping by the Sarnesh slowed their progress, though not considerably. Meanwhile, the Sarnesh found unexpected allies in "the Ancient League", an alliance of Moth-kinden from Dorax and Mantis-kinden from Etheryon and Nethyon who sent a delegation to fight alongside them against the Wasps. The Sarnesh army eventually met the Imperial Seventh at a point along the tracks and began what was later called the Battle of the Rails. Initially the Sarnesh army had the upper hand, their Ant-kinden unity and discipline driving back the Wasps. The tide of battle was only turned when Wasp reinforcements arrived from Helleron, wielding a deadly new crossbow variant dubbed the "snapbow." The snapbows were able to penetrate the Sarnesh soldiers' armour and, unable to stand against them, the Sarnesh fell back with heavy losses. Outcome: Narrow victory for the Wasp Empire's Seventh Army. The Fall of Solarno Though victorious in the Battle of the Rails, the Imperial Seventh Army had suffered too many losses to be able to besiege Sarn and General Malkan was forced to encamp and await reinforcements. This, plus the complete destruction of the Imperial Fourth Army and the onset of winter, created a brief interlude in which both sides turned their attentions elsewhere. The city of Solarno on the Exalsee was unknown to the Lowlands, but Teornis of the Aldanrael warned Stenwold Maker that the Wasps were encroaching upon it and, should it fall, the Spiderlands would too threatened to aid the Lowlands. Stenwold sent his niece Cheerwell and old friend Nero to the city, but despite brokering an alliance with a group of freelance aviators active around the Exalsee they were unable to prevent Solarno's ruling political party, the Crystal Standard, from handing the city to the Wasps in return for being kept in power. Utilising a huge airship called Starnest, the Wasps assaulted Solarno from the air and took over the city, imposing martial law. Cheerwell and Nero were able to escape with their friend and ally Taki after crossing the city to the airfield. Unbeknownst to them, Solarno's capture had been part of Teornis's plan all along, and his agent in the city, Odyssa, had deliberately engineered it so that Solarno's fall could be used to galvanise other Spider families into opposing the Wasps. Outcome: '''Victory for the Wasp Empire, strategic victory for the Aldanrael. The Destruction of the Sixth Army Reinforcements eventually arrived for General Malkan in the form of General Praeter and the Imperial Sixth Army, known as "the Hive" for its core of Bee-kinden Auxillians. Much to Malkan's chagrin, however, Praeter was placed in overall command. Over the winter, Malkan's Seventh had been facing constant harassment from organised bandits and guerrilla fighters led by Salme Dien, who had taken it upon himself to protect the thousands of refugees fleeing the Empire's advance. Salma's rag-tag "Landsarmy" ambushed Wasp scouts and supply columns, welcomed deserting Auxillians into its ranks and sapped the path of the Seventh's advance, slowing their progress. This continued after General Praeter took control, and in his most ambitious attack yet Salma ambushed the entire Sixth Army, waiting until its vehicles fell into traps his forces had laid before launching multiple feints designed to confuse and disorient the Wasps. Striking the core of the Army, Salma's forces cut off General Praeter and killed him, though the victory was soured by the staunch loyalty of Praeter's Bee-kinden bodyguards, who chose to die for the Empire that had subjugated them. The death of General Praeter placed control of the combined Sixth/Seventh Army back in General Malkan's hands, which would prove a crucial factor in the final battle of the war. '''Outcome: '''Total victory for the Landsarmy. The Burning of the Felyal After the destruction of the Imperial Fourth Army, a new army was sent towards Collegium along the coast. General Tynan, leader of the Imperial Second Army, known as "the Gears", learnt from the Fourth's destruction and ensured that all of his encampments were heavily fortified. Though this slowed his progress, it proved worthwhile when the Felyal mantids attacked the Second Army and they had the Fourth. This time, the Wasps' fortifications and higher state of alertness allowed them to respond effectively, the Mantids' ability to see in the dark was negated by a purpose-built beacon which temporarily blinded the attackers but gave the Wasps light by which to see. The sheer ferocity and peerless combat skill of the Mantids still allowed them to inflict more casualties than they took, but in the end the attack was routed and the more numerous Wasps drove into the Felyal, burning out the Mantis-kinden with fire-throwers and razing their settlements. The few Mantis-kinden survivors were forced to flee towards Collegium and Sarn, and the Felyal hold was completely destroyed. '''Outcome: Total victory for the Wasp Empire's Second Army. The Battle of Seldis The noble families of the Spiderlands had long debated their stance on the Wasp Empire, with Teornis of the Aldanrael working tirelessly to convince them to fight. The Imperial Eighth Army had moved south from Asta and encamped north of Seldis with the purpose of curtailing any attack from the Spiderlands, and now needed to be destroyed if the Spiders were to cut off supply lines to the Imperial Second Army advancing on Collegium. Teornis had been banking on the Ants of Kes to hold up the Second with their powerful navy and fortified island city, but the Kessen Ants instead chose to sign a non-aggression pact with the Wasps, selling out the rest of the Lowlands. Teornis eventually got his wish, and a number of Spider families pooled their resources to form a large army which confronted the Imperial Eighth on the plains outside Seldis. However, Teornis's much-needed victory did not eventuate, with the Wasps' snapbows proving too much for the Spiders' mercenary forces to handle. As the ordered battle dissolved into a confused tangle, Teornis recognised defeat and fled to Collegium, while the Imperial Eighth claimed victory and besieged Seldis itself. Outcome: 'Field victory for the Wasp Empire's Eighth Army, Seldis besieged. The Szaren Uprising Though the Wasp armies were rolling across the Lowlands, the Empire's attention was divided by a series of uprisings in cities they had conquered. The first city to rebel during the war was Szar, a Bee-kinden city which had placidly produced weapons and armour for the Empire for the best part of two decades. As a consequence, it had the smallest garrison of any city in the Empire. However, the loyalty of the Szaren Bees was assured by the captivity of their Queen, Tserinet, who was kept prisoner in Emperor Alvdan's harem. When Tserinet committed suicide as a result of Uctebri's schemes, rulership passed to her daughter Maczech, who began fomenting rebellion. Maczech was able to escape from her custody in the Szaren governor's palace thanks to the willing sacrifice of several servants, and the rebellious Bees, rallying around her, were able to swiftly retake much of their city. However, the Szaren then quickly reverted to defensive tactics, and although they were fanatically loyal to their Queen and made the Wasps pay for every inch of ground they tried to retake, their lack of initiative allowed the Wasp garrison to be reinforced and the situation soon devolved into a stalemate. Desiring to make an example of Szar, Emperor Alvdan ordered the Imperial Artificer Corp. to put down the rebellion. Master artificer Dariandrephos planned to use a newly developed poison gas to slaughter the Szaren wholesale, but dissent amongst his disciples led to the deaths of most of his small team, and Drephos himself was incapacitated by his student Totho, a former agent of Stenwold Maker's who had defected to the Empire after being captured at the Siege of Tark. Acting alone, Totho used the gas to slaughter the entire Wasp garrison, handing Szar back to the Bee-kinden. '''Outcome: '''Victory for the Szaren rebels, Szar freed from Imperial control. The Mynan Rebellion Unlike nearby Szar, the city of Myna had sheltered an active resistance movement almost since the day it was conquered. Colonel Ulther had managed to keep the resistance under control during his corrupt but effective tenure, even capturing Kymene, the resistance leader, but his governorship came a messy end after he fell prey to Rekef politics and was removed by his former protege Thalric on the orders of General Reiner, on the same night that Kymene was freed. Ulther was replaced by Reiner's second-in-command, Colonel Latvoc, whose brutal and reactionary tactics were designed to cow the resistance into submission but had the opposite effect. By the time of the Szaren uprising, Myna was on the verge of open rebellion as well. In the end it was Thalric who sparked the fire which grew into the inferno of open conflict. Captured by the Rekef following his stint as a grudging ally of Stenwold Maker, Thalric murdered both General Reiner and Colonel Latvoc, throwing Myna into chaos. Kymene seized this opportunity to rise up, and the resistance struck across the city. The less disciplined cells, who were mostly outside of Kymene's control, took to the streets too soon and were slaughtered by the Wasps' reactionary crackdown, but then Kymene's organised fighters went into action and effectively seized control of most of the city, capturing key buildings and ambushing Wasp patrols, who suddenly found themselves outnumbered and trapped. The surviving Wasps, leaderless, retreated inside the governor's palace, and despite her best efforts Kymene was unable to break in. It was then that word arrived of a relief force of Wasps en-route from Szar, and Kymene faced the possibility of losing her city once again if the palace could not be taken in time. At the same time as the Mynan and Szaren uprisings, the Moth-kinden of Tharn were also trying to retake their city from Wasp oppressors, but with very different methods. Attempting a great magical ritual, they faced failure and death until Achaeos called upon the power of the Darakyon. A wave of dark magic overwhelmed the Wasp garrison of Tharn, driving them insane with fear, but at the same time Achaeos was killed by the strain of unleashing such a force. Through their bond his death affected Cheerwell Maker, who was fighting alongside the Mynan resistance, and for a few minutes Cheerwell became a conduit for the last spirits of the Darakyon. Maddened by grief, she charged the gates of the palace single-handed, and the seething energies of the Darakyon infected the Wasps of Myna as well, cracking their defenses with sheer terror and allowing the resistance to break inside. The rest was slaughter. The relief force dispatched from Szar was halted in its tracks by news of the Szaren garrison's slaughter. Paralysed by indecision, its commander chose to hunker down and await new orders rather than invest Szar or assault Myna, potentially regaining either city for the Empire. Thus, Myna and Szar were both able to secure their freedom, also allowing the Ants of nearby Maynes to throw off their oppressors as well. The entire West Empire crumbled in a few days, and a sizeable chunk of the Wasps' territories were lost. '''Outcome: '''Victory for the Mynan resistance, Myna freed from Imperial control. The West Empire lost, foundations of the Three-City Alliance laid. The Battle of Solarno While the uprising in Szar occurred independently, it inspired Stenwold Maker to attempt to trigger other uprisings and so divide the Empire's forces. By forcing the Empire to fight battles on multiple fronts he hoped to dilute the strength it could bring to bear against the Lowlands, and perhaps stall its invasion entirely. To this end, he sent his ally Nero back to Solarno along with Taki to try and organise a resistance against the Wasps' fresh conquest of the city. While Taki focused on bringing her fellow aviators together in the cause, Nero made contact with militant activists from political parties who opposed the Wasps and their collaborators. The infamous assassin Cesta became an unexpected but potent ally, while Scorpion-kinden mercenaries hired by Odyssa stood ready to add some much-needed muscle. When the time came for Solarno's new Wasp-kinden governor to be coronated, the rebel coalition struck. Cesta slit the would-be governor's throat in plain view of the gathered crowd and then carved his way through the dead man's retaliating guards before finally falling to a spear in the back. Rebellious citizens amongst the crowd turned on the Wasp soldiers, moments before armed rebels came swarming out of the alleys to attack the Wasps from behind. Odyssa's mercenaries landed at the docks and marched into the city to join the fight, while Taki and the other free aviators flew in from their island base to contest the skies above the city with the Wasps' new-minted Aviator Corp. The battle of Solarno was much less one-sided than its initial fall to the Wasps had been, and casualties were high on both sides. Many aviators fell from the sky before the infamous pirate Hawkmoth succeeded in bringing down [[Starnest|''Starnest]], and the outcast Bee-kinden was brought down by vengeful Wasp aircraft shortly after. In the streets chaotic fighting claimed many lives, including Nero's. Ultimately, however, the Wasps were driven from Solarno. '''Outcome: '''Costly victory for the Solarnese rebels, Solarno freed from Imperial control. Malkan's Stand / Malkan's Folly With the Imperial Seventh Army bearing down on them, the Sarnesh decided to face the Wasps in the field. Reinforced by allies from Tark, the Ancient League, the Landsarmy, Collegium and Tsen, the Sarnesh found themselves at the heart of a Lowlander coalition. Fearing the Seventh Army's siege engines, they ordered Salma and his Landsarmy to launch a strike against the enemy camp which would provide cover for Sarnesh engineers to sabotage them. Salma knew this mission was likely suicidal, but agreed to it on the condition that the Sarnesh swore to protect the thousands of refugee non-combatants he had made his responsibility. Utilising a rag-tag cavalry formation, the Landsarmy struck at the Wasp camp, causing mayhem. Salma was knocked from his horse and captured, but the Sarnesh did their job and set the Wasps' siege engines ablaze, along with a large portion of the camp. Secure in the knowledge that should they be defeated Sarn would not be breached, the Sarnesh army launched a pre-dawn attack soon after, while members of the Landsarmy infiltrated General Malkan's tent in an attempt to rescue Salma. Freed, Salma attacked Malkan and initiated a duel even as the Wasps rushed to defend themselves against the surprise assault. During the battle, the Collegiate and Tseni forces were given the right flank, while the Sarnesh forces made up the centre. Armed with snapbows, the Collegiates were ordered to fire on the Wasps advancing towards the Sarnesh, which weakened them just before they reached the Ant-kinden lines but left the Collegiates barely enough time to send a single volley towards their own attackers before the lines met. The Tseni moved in to protect the Collegiates' flank and their leader Plius was killed, while hand-to-hand combat erupted across the field. Meanwhile, General Malkan gained the upper hand in his duel with Salma and slew the Commonwealer prince. Overcome with grief and rage, his Butterfly-kinden lover Prized of Dragons unleashed a rare and deadly Art, immolating Malkan and every Wasp soldier around him. Distracted and leaderless, the Wasps attacking the Collegiate forces paused, allowing their foes enough time to reload and mow down the entire left flank of the Seventh Army. The Seventh Army routed, and the Lowlander coalition seized victory. '''Outcome: Decisive victory for the allied Lowlander forces. The Sarnesh construct a fortress on the site of the battle, afterwards known as Malkan's Stand to Imperials and Malkan's Folly to Lowlanders. The Second Siege of Collegium After burning out the Felyal mantids, the Imperial Second Army marched on Collegium and besieged the city. Preliminary fighting took place at the walls and in the air, where the Collegiate battle airship Pride of Aeronautics was brought down, its captain steering it out over the Wasp army before blowing the engines and annihilating an entire wave of attackers in his moment of death. The defenders of Collegium were more prepared than they had been when the Vekken attacked, but against an enemy with technology almost equal to their own and the ability to fly, they suffered. Where it had taken the Vekken weeks to batter down Collegium's defences, the Imperial Second Army were close to overwhelming them after just three days. Knowing that her adoptive city was about the fall, Stenwold's lover Arianna used her background as a former Rekef agent to infiltrate the Second Army's camp. Unfortunately, her attempt to assassinate General Tynan failed, and she was taken prisoner. Desperate to save her, Stenwold met with Tynan and was present when the Wasp general received the news that Emperor Alvdan II had been assassinated by an escaped fighting slave, none other than Stenwold's old friend Tisamon. With the Empire collapsing into chaos Tynan was forced to retreat, and in a moment of magnanimity he spared Stenwold and Arianna. To the defenders of Collegium it looked like Stenwold had convinced the Wasps to retreat simply by talking to them. Outcome: Retreat of the Wasp Empire's Second Army and indecisive victory for Collegium. Aftermath The death of Emperor Alvdan II and subsequent power struggle within the Empire forced the Wasps to abandon their invasion of the Lowlands. The Empire near simultaneously lost control of Tharn, Szar, Myna, Maynes and Solarno, while the garrisons at Helleron and Tark were forced to retreat. Alvdan's sister Seda succeeded him as the first Empress of the Wasps, but significant opposition to her rule forced her to spend the next two years re-unifying the Empire by crushing a succession of rebel governors. Thalric became her Regent and lover, a male figurehead to make her rule more palatable in the sexist Wasp society, and he was named ambassador to Collegium. Thus, he was present for official end of the First Lowlands War with the signing of the Treaty of Gold, an agreement between the Lowlands, the Wasp Empire, the Spiderlands and the newly formed Three-City Alliance that if any one of them attacked another, the rest would unite to defeat the aggressor. Each faction knew that the treaty would not be upheld for very long and that another war would come soon, but it bought each of them some time to recover and reorder themselves and led to a few years of relative peace. Category:Battles Category:Lore